Saku Koivu appeased nationalist lawyer Guy Bertrand on the video scoreboard before the game and then brought the Montreal Canadiens faithful out of their seats in a sterling performance.

The Canadiens' captain scored one goal and assisted on another Thursday night in his team's fifth win in six games, 5-2 over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Canadiens' Saku Koivu, left, and Patrice Brisebois celebrate after Koivu opened the scoring against Philadelphia in the first period.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

Koivu began the night delivering taped, pre-game player introductions mostly in French.

He took some heat Wednesday from provincial politicians for not speaking French in a similar message at Montreal's home opener this season. Bertrand said after 12 seasons with the Canadiens that Koivu should speak French to show respect for the majority of Quebecers.

"That was awesome," Koivu said of the crowd. "They've shown so many times over the years that they're for us and for me.

"It really felt good. We talked about [the French message] even before this whole controversy. We did it about a week or 10 days ago. I guess it was a good time to put it out there."

Koivu let his play do the talking in the first period, coming off the bench on a delayed penalty call and snapping a shot over the glove of Flyers goaltender Martin Biron at 8:53 for his first goal on home ice this season.

With Montreal leading 4-1 midway through the third, Koivu sent a hard pass to Philadelphia's net that Guillaume Latendresse redirected for his second goal of the season.

Missed penalty shot

Alex Kovalev pocketed his third goal in the last four games, while Tom Kostopoulos and Chris Higgins also found the net for Montreal, which improved to 7-2-3. Defenceman Roman Hamrlik also missed a penalty shot.

"It was important to play well after our performance on Tuesday night (3-2 shootout loss to Atlanta) but also, I think guys were ready after the whole controversial thing [Wednesday]," said Koivu.

"It showed. We were focused. We wanted to win."

The Canadiens' power play continued to shine with a 2-for-5 showing and the team boasts an NHL-leading 22 goals with the man-advantage.

Mike Richards and Scottie Upshall, who made his season debut after fracturing his left wrist in the pre-season, scored for Philadelphia, which dropped its fourth game in the past five visits to the Bell Centre.

Montreal carried the play in the first period, bombarding Philadelphia 15-6 in shots — and 41-18 overall — but came away tied 1-1.

The Flyers (7-4-0) were never the same after Daniel Brière was penalized for tripping on a phantom call after an untouched Higgins fell near the side boards early in the second period.

Kovalev continues hot play

Kovalev, who was the subject of trade rumours earlier this season, took advantage and snapped a shot under the crossbar from the faceoff dot to give Montreal a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish.

Kostopoulos made it 3-1 just four minutes later when he converted a give-and-go with defenceman Andrei Markov for his first goal as a Canadien.

Higgins and Upshall exchanged third-period goals after Latendresse upped the margin to 4-1.

Brière was booed lustily by the sellout crowd of 21,273 every time he touched the puck after spurning a six-year free-agent offer from the Canadiens over the summer to join the Flyers for eight years.

The Gatineau, Que., native did get a measure of revenge when he dropped a pass for Mike Richards, who beat Montreal netminder Cristobal Huet for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.

Huet was steady the rest of the way, stopping 17 of 19 shots for his fourth straight win. He has lost only one of his last eight regulation starts and is unbeaten in four career outings against Philadelphia, which hit three goalposts and has lost three of its last four games.

Biron, who began the night third in the NHL in save percentage (.948), was beaten five times on 41 shots.

The Canadiens seek their fourth home win of the season Saturday when they tangle with archrival Toronto (CBC, 7 p.m. ET).